Dinosaurs Don't Buy iPads

A bright note in May's jobs reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is that one sector of our economy is growing: construction. This is a big turnaround, driven by low mortgage interest rates and pent-up demand. But in January 2007 this sector tanked and pink slips were hemorraging throughout the U.S.

Which brings me to the issue of: what if your sector is dying, or hanging on only with life support? What do you do if "your job" is just not viable anymore? A prudent person recognizes that a dead-end is...a dead-end. So the prudent person changes direction, changes his or her thinking, changes his or her goal. In other words, a prudent person adapts.

Dinosaurs don't adapt. They didn't adapt...that's why they are called dinosaurs.

I write about this a lot in my book, Hired!. Let me explore the plight of the construction worker after 2007. Up until that date residential and commercial building was exploding in the U.S. housing bubble. Then the bottom dropped out of the U.S. and other national economies. Millions of U.S. construction workers were laid off. Some chose, or fell into, a period of living off government unemployment benefits. Some found sporadic construction work. Others found entirely new areas of work.

It is this latter group who will be the survivors in the coming years. Because they adapted. They did not limit themselves to thinking only "I do concrete" or "I do drywall." They were willing to accept that while their last job in construction required specific skills needed in the construction industry, they were not limited to that. Survivors see themselves as possessors of skills that can be applied in many, many areas, and do not limit themselves to thinking "I do this and only this."

But what of the others? What of the construction workers who did not find other positions, or fell into government welfare?

Perhaps no jobs were available. In some rural areas this is a real possibility. Or, perhaps jobs were available but they paid less than what the previous job paid. This is very probable. The dark underbelly of our pathetically slow, anemic jobs recovery is that the new jobs are primarily in service industries (a fancy way of saying "low-paying, fast-food and retail jobs"). Or, perhaps the worker discovered that government unemployment benefits pay even more than working. This has been a rational economic decision for many people. Everyone will choose the biggest income option of those available. But, there is a dark side to the upside of unemployment welfare: the longer you are out of work, the more difficult it will be to find a new job. It is a depressing dilemma.

After a prolonged period of unemployment one does become a dinosaur. The stigma, the loss of existing skills, the inability to obtain new skills eventually can be fatal as one fails to adapt, and merely adopts a passive posture. Dinosaurs don't buy iPads. They don't change. They don't learn. They don't adapt to new realities. That is why they are not here today.

A new reality in the construction industry is that it is opening a whole set of employment opportunities that have not been around for five years. Perhaps this is a time you can return to this industry. Perhaps you have never worked in construction, but it could be a worthy area to explore. You don't have to know how to frame a roof. Construction companies needs administrative office help, inventory, procurement, accounting and contract sourcing help.

Adapt. It's all about whether you are willing to think outside your old title or job name, and adapt.